after a 1992 merger with Franklin Resources.

The seminar, on Tuesday evening at the Society of Arts at the City Hall, is being sponsored jointly by the Emerald Financial Group and Bermuda Commercial Bank, and will feature one of Templeton's most senior officers, executive vice president of the firm's parent company, Templeton Worldwide, Mr. Don Reed.

Mr. Reed is also president and director of Templeton Investment Counsel and the president and CEO of Templeton's Canadian operations. He is personally responsible for managing several million dollars of international equities for the organisation.

He will be joined by Chuck Golden, vice president of client service for the organisation.

Flagship fund, the Templeton Growth Fund, has average returns in excess of 15 percent since its inception in 1954. It has significant holdings in Bermuda-based Jardine Matheson Holdings and holdings in Bermuda-based Zurich Reinsurance.

David Bolden of Emerald Financial said that another fund, the Templeton Emerging Markets Fund, the first such fund listed on the New York Stock Exchange with investments in emerging markets as its primary objective. The emerging markets included Russia, China, Vietnam, Poland, Brazil, Indonesia and India.

Mr. Bolden said any potential investor is invited , no matter their portfolio size, to hear more on the rationale of overseas investing, particualrly as a result of the removal of the 10 percent Foreign Currency Purchase Tax.